Blog
content marketing

What is a White Paper?

A White Paper is usually a more in-depth report or guide in PDF format that can be downloaded in exchange for your email address. By offering a White Paper to your prospects, you have an opportunity to generate some warmer leads that salespeople then have the opportunity to process.

A really good White Paper contains a deeper presentation of a challenge that your customers often face. By thoroughly reviewing these issues and challenges, and at the same time presenting one or more solutions that can help your potential customers with solutions to the problems they face.

In this way you will be perceived as an expert in the field or a so-called thought leader. You show that you understand the problem and that your product or service is designed to facilitate this. A white paper can be anything from a few pages to about 20 pages long.

Here is a white paper template:
DOWNLOAD WHITE PAPER Template

With
a really good white paper, you will be seen as a company that really understands your customers' challenges and shows that you are an expert in the field. Companies today want to work with other companies that have their finger on the pulse and where the focus is on delivering maximum value to customers.

In the past, White Papers were often created for more complex industries, but those days are over and White Papers are now being created for different industries and in a variety of areas to disseminate knowledge in a smooth and efficient way. You could say that a White Paper is a guide and a compilation that contains lots of valuable and useful information that is available for everyone to download (usually on a website).

In the past, the tone of a white paper has been very formal, but I would say that personal is the new proffesional, so please be personal when writing a white paper.

If you need a content planning template, you can find one here:
Download your content planning template here!

Why should my company have a White Paper?

So why should my company have a White Paper? Well, because you are a company that wants to share the knowledge you have and thus help as many companies as possible to be successful. Studies show that companies that are generous in sharing their knowledge are the ones that get the most satisfied customers.

In other words, a white paper shouldn't be a sales pitch about how great you are as a company, but a document full of tips and tricks to help your potential customer succeed.

If you choose to create a White Paper with the right type of information, it will be understood that you know what you are doing and have a good product and/or service.

The idea with a White Paper is that the content should be so good that a person who you have never talked to before is willing to give you their email address in order to read the content.When the person has downloaded your White Paper, an email is automatically sent to that person where you thank them for downloading your White Paper and where you attach the document. In this way, you have created a lead generator that provides warm leads to your salespeople.

10 content tips before publishing_Jobassigner3

How do I write a good White Paper?

When it comes to a good White Paper, it is important to offer plenty of knowledge. A really good white paper should be good enough for a person in a company to be able to pass it on to their colleague or manager so that it can be used as a basis for solving a problem or challenge. So in other words, pure sales doesn't work here. In terms of structure, there are of course different ways to go, but below we have a structure in a few different steps that we think is good to follow.

To whom should I write my White Paper?

Before you start writing your white paper, you need to be clear about who you want to communicate to and that you know that person has the challenge or need that you intend to talk about and solve. What is that person's role? Is this person in a position to make a buying decision? What knowledge are you going to offer to make that person want to download your white paper?

What is the goal of my White Paper?

Also think about what the goal of your white paper is. Is it enough just to get an email address or do you want someone to call you or do you want them to book a meeting or demo. Is the goal to become a thought leader in the industry, build a brand or do you want to change a behavior.

How do I choose a theme for my White Paper?

Based on your customers' challenges, you develop a problem area that you can help solve. For example, this is what I should consider when choosing marketing automation tools or how do I turn a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied customer or how do you create a kick ass company culture. Then the problem you address in your white paper should be in the title. When choosing which challenge to write about don't forget to choose the one you have the absolute best solution to.

Describe the challenge/problem at the beginning of your White Paper

At the beginning of your White Paper, it is best to make a brief analysis of the challenge your potential customer has and what it might be due to. A few sentences will suffice.

Go deeper into the challenges and reasoning around the topic

In order for a White Paper to provide value to a potential customer, it is important that you go deeper into the reasoning behind the problem and the background, as well as the benefits if the problem can be solved. It is important here that you always put the customer and the reader first.

How to present my solution in my white paperA general rule in content marketing is to talk about a problem and answer what the solution is, without directly selling your service or product. The important thing is to demonstrate your expertise in the field.

The same applies when writing a White Paper. When it comes time to present a solution to the problem you are addressing, be sure to be informative. Feel free to tell us about your solution and how exactly you are solving it. Also, feel free to tell them about other solutions that the client has to choose from. This makes you very credible. It may be that your solution is not the best one for the customer, which is fine. After all, you only want to work with companies where the match is absolutely right and where you can provide the absolute best value.

How do I summarize my White Paper?

In summary, write a few lines about the problem, your solution and what the person can expect if they decide to start working with you. It is also important that there is a clear call to action here. For example, if you want to book a meeting click here, if you want a demo click here or link to the page where they can find your price list.I hope this blog post has given you knowledge about what a white paper can be and how you go about writing one. In conclusion, we would also like to say that the most important thing is that you know who you are writing for, that you adapt the content to the reader's level of knowledge and always keep the customer in focus.

If you want to have a smooth and good template as a basis for writing a White Paper, you can download our template for free by clicking on the button below "Download our White Paper template here"DOWNLOAD THEWHITE PAPER TEMPLATE

‍Best of luck! Best
wishes Team Contitude!

Want to get started? Send us a message...

Thank you! We'll be in touch as soon as we can!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

Book an appointment now.

We'd love to hear about your digital marketing ambitions, goals and challenges - and most importantly, give you tips on marketing activities that work for you!

Book a meeting